In an ongoing effort to further reduce undesirable emissions from motor vehicles, engineers have begun to consider alternatives to internal combustion engines as a means of propelling the vehicle. One potential alternative is to employ one or more electric motors powered by an appropriate electrical source, such as a fuel cell. In the case of four wheel drive vehicles, such as articulated wheel loader work machines, there are many alternative potential strategies that each deserve consideration. For instance, a four wheel drive work machine could be constructed with a separate electrical motor on each of its four wheels. However, such a solution could be cost prohibitive and difficult to control. Another alternative might be to include separate electrical motors for each of the two axles such as that taught by Sakazaki in U.S. Patent Application US 2003/0116371. Although this strategy might be more attractive than the four motor strategy, it still requires two electrical motors, two sets of controllers, and likely duplicate pairs of other relatively expensive components, such as reduction gears to link the motors to their respective axles.
Another potential problem associated with some four wheel drive work machines relates to packaging the various power plant(s), motor(s), work implement, etc. in an envelope that renders the machine a realistic alternative to existing work machines that rely upon conventional internal combustion engines. These challenges can be especially difficult in relation to some applications, such as wheel loaders utilized in underground mining operations.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.